balloonfest '26
bucktommy | 5.1k | rated t crash that helicopter! based on real events
Tommy wishes he could say he’s surprised when his helicopter is suddenly completely engulfed by balloons as he’s flying over the hills near the Hollywood Sign. It’s certainly not what he expected when Harbor got a call about a hiker who needed to be transported to the hospital. This was supposed to be a fairly run-of-the-mill flight, as far as things go in this job. Tommy thought it would be a good, safe training exercise for his new probie.
The balloons are bizarre, to be sure, but full immersion in a sea of latex isn’t the most bewildering thing that Tommy has ever seen. After all, he saw active combat. He worked during the beenado. He dated a man who, in Tommy’s more honest moments, he can admit got cursed with boils by the vengeful ghost of a dead cowboy. Tommy has seen enough outlandish and frankly baffling things in his life that a wave of balloons with someone’s face on them fully blocking his vision at 10,000 feet doesn’t throw him nearly as badly as it does his probie in the back.
“What the fuck?” Garcia asks, voice full of fear. The kid is so green that Tommy is almost jealous.
“That,” Tommy says carefully, evenly, “is a good question.”
Every turn of the rotors pops the balloons around them. Pop. Pop pop pop. It’s loud even over the sounds of the machine. They can hear the bursts through their headsets. Pop pop pop.
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